OXFORD, United Kingdom, and TOKYO—Hidden within the first cell-phone announcements from Sony Ericsson was the fact that the joint venture’s P800 smart phone device will use the operating system (OS) developed by Symbian. The P800, one of six new devices announced, includes a large color screen with built-in camera and is scheduled to ship sometime in the third quarter.
This vote of confidence in Symbian by Sony Ericsson must have been welcomed by the embattled management of Symbian, with the company struggling to deliver products on schedule and its chief executive officer (CEO) recently announcing his plans to leave. However, the P800 is seen as a direct competitor to Nokia’s recently announced 7650 Communicator product, due to ship in June, when the real marketing battle will take place.
While Ericsson has slipped behind on cell-phone shipments, its latest color-screen T68 is reported to be in short supply due to high customer demand. This turnaround may help Sony Ericsson, which was loss-making in the last two quarters, make its forecast of being profitable for the whole of 2002.
The new smart phone is a mobile multimedia product integrating personal digital assistant (PDA) and cellular-phone functions. It has a large touch screen, a built-in camera, access to the Internet and runs on three different bands of GSM/General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) networks. The firm is planning to ship the product in Europe and Asia in the third quarter.
With a full range of specifications as a multimedia product, the P800 can take digital pictures, display pictures on its screen, store them in the photo album and send them as attachments to e-mails. Having an integrated browser, it can access the Web, i-mode and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) sites.
